Footprints Made of Concrete
by Zarius
Summary: The Doctor and Ace enjoy a relaxing day by the seaside as the snowman meets the showman.
1. Chapter 1

**THE NEW DOCTOR WHO ADVENTURES:**

**FOOTPRINTS MADE OF CONCRETE**

**WRITTEN BY ZARIUS**

**Disclaimer: Doctor Who is trademarked by the BBC. All rights reserved. This is for non-profit**

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE**

* * *

Draped in a slick and short yellow dress and sandals, Kristine looked out at the clean brisk peak of the hill and observed the sea, the rich salty aura wrapped itself enticed her.

Kristine slipped her sandals off and imprinted her toes over the smooth bladed grass. The colour of glorious emerald splendour. In the morning and afternoon entertained by the best days of the sun, toasty and inviting. At night, as cool as the rims of a security blanket.

A right hand placed itself upon her shoulder and the frame of a tall, slender man in a top hat and flowing red cape, a walking stick clutched tightly in his left hand, he would also look upon the sea, yet to teem with people, yet to teem with life.

"It's ready" Kristine said, "The landscape is yours"

"What do you remember of this?" asked the man, "This event I mean...though I should caution you, memories can be delicate strings, so easy to cut off, but you can always trace it back, if you try hard, if you work hard, if you feel the need to impress...do you feel the need Kristine Rimmer? Do you want to impress me?"

Kristine closed her eyes, she struggled, she strained, she tried to open her mind that far back. She would succeed.

"I recall my best friend and I skipped school, the summer of all our years to come...can't recall what year that was, you never remember the exact instant you became an adult, ready to embrace the different sort of world. We loved playing truant, we loved leading a rebellion, we always imagined more would join in, but you know how it is. Most children want to play follow the leader. You know that above all else"

"You didn't follow., that's why you remained. Remained with me. For all your days...'till now" the man replied, patting her on the shoulder with his free hand. His cold icy facial demeanour gradually turning slightly red as the sun continued to rise in the infancy of the 6: 25 AM morning summer sky.

"I wish my friend had stayed, he dyed his hair white that day, it was such a striking visual, he'd have been illuminating, he was like a snowman. It was nerves that took him in the end, he proved himself an eager student, and an eagerness to learn was what drove him back to school, to remain a pet, to remain in the educational igloo. My snowman"

She peered out at the beach below, her eyes fixating on a particular spot in the dead centre of the landscape.

"are you going to put it on display in the same spot? Oh please do"

"I was thinking we should have breakfast first" the man replied, licking his lips

"No. No more breakfast for me. Now is the time for your supper. Then time for rest. One after the other"

"You've had enough" the man said

Kristine gave him a look that confirmed her feelings without an exact need for elaboration.

"Thank you. I figured there was a reason why you chose to come back here on your 18th. I did advise you years ago to pick a number close to the end"

"What will happen to the world I'm leaving behind? Will it go on?" Kristine asked anxiously.

"That is the purpose of the show my child, that is why there is a Punch to Judy. There must always be a flock, and one who refuses to follow, the one that refuses to follow establishes the rules. Your predecessor picked the location, the one before that informed me of what exactly the reward would be, and now you have picked the age. The age to end all ages, and to begin anew. The show is ongoing, it evolves, just as easily as it devours"

A slightly more plumb man walked up to the pair of them, holding on to two small felt hand puppets

"They're ready" he said

The man in the top hat turned and held out his hands, the plump man nervously attached the back of the felt puppet to his hand, the man graciously handed Kristine his walking stick and allowed the chubby assistant to attach another of the hand puppets to his free hand.

"They fit perfectly" said the man, "Let the show commence"

"They'll find out if we let her go. You know they will. Her parents never stopped asking questions. They knew it was us who had her" the obese man said with raw nerve in his voice, "The show should not be cast in the negative light"

"But the negative light is perfect. It is what gets everyone talking"

"Kristine's jumped" the obese man noted.

The man turned around to find a vacant spot on the hill, he looked down to see Kristine holding onto a small branch hanging over the cliff, her feet dangling and dancing in the free clear air, the solid and hard hitting sands were below, and they did not provide a most assured and comfortable landing.

"Please, lift me up, I've changed my mind" she said, the tears streaming down her face as pure realization and fright washed over her.

"Again with your mind. Again. And again" the man exclaimed, his tone increasing in frustration, "These thoughts you had all morning were meant to be your supper. Your _last_ supper. And you throw it away"

"Please, I was right, I've had enough...of this. I want to go home now. I want to run away, like my friend, like Billy Kettleworth. I want to enjoy the show"

"She remembers his name. Sir, we can't keep her now, she's all..._nostalgic_" the plump man said.

"16 was not the right age then. 16 is the age of adults, making adult choices, this is where they bloom and flourish, this is when they see the future is bright. This is not where we need to be. Those who do not enjoy the show, those who cast it in the negative light, they are perfect challengers

"Please pick me up" she said

The man sighed and bent over, he reached out his hand, Kristine took it. He pulled her up. She clutched onto him

"I dropped your cane" she said

"You're lucky I still have the heart and the soul, the conscience and the will. I have not broken, the show is not over"

He looked out over the beach, the wind picked up, the sun didn't seem so hot.

"This is home to you. Find it. If you see the show, run away, tell your children to run away, if they enjoy the show, if their minds are taken in by simple things, I will refuse to acknowledge you"

"The simple things in life is all I want. No complications. Not anymore. That's what I saw in your show the first time, that's why I hated it, and why I didn't turn from it. I didn't want to be a sheep, I wanted to understand why you made THIS so damp and so tired and...and...where has my head been? What happened to me...I...I want go home. I can go home now. I know I can go home now"

"She's forgetting. First she was accepting, then came the regretting, now she's forgetting and now longing. It took her the longest out of all of them sir. All she is now is a footprint. Footprint eighteen. And it's going to clear in a span of just seconds, such a short number compared to the years we spent with her...so sad" the obese man commented. His master stroked his chin delicately, kissed the girl on the hand, rubbed his felt puppet across her silk blonde hair, and shoved her into his associate's arms.

"Walk her over to the dock and leave her there. Someone will notice her. Someone noble. Someone not like us. She needs that now. Chaos is no longer for tea. She belongs to a less unique age now"

As they walked away, the man stared into the sun as the wind howled and spits of rain began dancing across his features. This was not ideal weather. He would wait until the conditions were right.

That occurred an hour or so later, when the warm weather resumed and people began to pour in. School holidays had started, the timing was ripe.

The children were assembled, huddled together, picking their noses, boys were picking their noses and pulling the flowing hair of the girls next to them, some were fighting, some were kissing.

They huddled around a box, a box assembled earlier in the day, a box with colourful markings, that of striped red and white, it looked inviting, like a house of raw candy. Two puppets emerged from the waist up within the centre of the box. A Punch and a Judy.

The children were already bored. They had danced this dance before.

But then came something different. A question not one of the young souls that had gathered _expected _of the strange little at-odds couple of old.

"Tell me Judy, what age do you want to show me?"

Judy stroked her chin and turned to the audience

"Well kids, what do you think? What age should I show him?"

She peered down and examined the children, a small infra-red scanner embedded in her eyes, she caught sight of a girl who looked slightly older than most of the crop there, someone with her arms folded, her features frosty, her eyebrows crooked.

"What age are you young lass?" said Judy in a pseudo-Scottish accent.

"I'm thirteen years of age and this show stinks" the girl replied.

Beneath Judy's robes, the man who operated both puppets grinned from ear to ear.

_"Not everything in life is ever explained"_ he thought, "_As we indulge in our concerns, we are quick to temper and quick to judge. Sometimes, MOST times, it is born of a need to command attention, always eager to remain more than just a footprint, the idea of hate, the notion of a voice ripe with counter-culture and disdain, imposes itself so carefully on the fragile young psyche. The beach is never made of concrete, but the footprints, the ones that matter most, the ones that matter in the mind, they can motivate a lifetime of desires and dreams. You just need to catch them._

_Catch them at their youngest._

_Sixteen was the commencement of a different age. That mistake shall now be forgotten_

_Now I have caught someone at the age of commencement._

_And I will mould her into a footprint made of concrete._

_And all of her kind that I encounter._

_God bless._


	2. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

* * *

"You don't have to factor any of that in my dear" said Lucas Harms as he tried to reassure his business partner over the phone during a rather unruly commencement at the breakfast table. The youngest and rowdiest of his four children were chasing each other around the kitchen area, brandishing toy aeroplanes and making spitfire noises trying to simulate some semblance of a mighty aerial dog-fight, inspired by the tales they had heard from their teachers of the colossal clashes across the skies in World War II during the teething stages of historical education.

"Get Ripley on the phone and tell her not to keep the numbers to herself, this business model focuses on accountability...yeah, accountability for accounting, it happens, tell her to get a move on, a firm foot forward"

The noise and chatter continued from the kids, irking Lucas, he breifly put the phone down and demanded order be restored to the great British breakfast tradition.

His mind raced back to the promises he had made before. It was the weekend. He was taking everyone to the beach. Their attitudes going into the outing should not be dampened.

So he apologized, he would say reassuring things, compliment them on their madcap misadventures and encourage them to keep up the lively activity while he continued to relay instruction to his partner on the phone.

He'd have talked for far longer if phone bills and time were not highly intrusive. He finally put the phone down and swiftly began to put together the family trip, bringing out the trusty road maps so he could memorize to an exact science the best possible route to take to the beach as they lived in an area rich with short cuts through the country roads that bypassed the busy central motorways.

The eldest of his sons, sixteen year old Keith Harms, waltzed down the stairs of the house, fresh out of bed, wearing grey boxers, a _Thundercats _t-shirt and some fuzzy Garfield-shaped slipper.

"Is she coming over then? For the trip I mean?" asked Lucas as Keith made himself a fresh sandwich

"Huh? Oh yeah dad, she is" Keith replied

"And are you going to tell her to cut it out this time?" Lucas insisted

"She's a force of bloody nature dad, how am I going to stop her? She cuts me down with her word play every single time she always knows exactly what needs to be said and get me to allow what she does"

"It was perfectly understandable when you were younger, I let it slip by, but you're getting too old for the personal touches. She could barely cover up when little Floyd walked in on you two trying on your prom garb. Think what kind of an impression that leaves on a six year old. I remember one of my school mates, one Robin Bland, way back in primary, his whole class changed into their P.E gear in the classroom, teachers allowed it 'cause everyone was just under the age where everything spurts, he took one gander at a girl topless and ran about the full stretch of the school in only his underwear to impress the ladies. Teachers learned the hard way what it's like to trigger the hormones in a youngster too early. Don't want anyone catching that kind of fire in this family, so keep it under the collar if things get too hot, capuche?"

"Capuche, I've got a ready-made excuse anyway the whole time she's trying on those bikini bottoms, I'll be in the bathroom fixing this to the trusty scalp so she won't be able to ask my opinion on what she takes to wear" said Keith, holding up a small flask containing a thick white cream.

Lucas looked at the flask and despaired, "Oh no" he said, "Don't try your luck with dying your hair with that look. I had a tough time enough with that look at school back when I was your age" he said, putting on his glasses to best study the map

"Oh relax, this isn't the 20th century anymore, this sort of style is the way forward, now which beach are we heading to?" asked Keith

"Hayling Island" answered Lucas.

"Near Portsmouth huh? There's a trip. Good thing the holidays have started up" said Keith

"I figure I'd give you enough travel space to have a long chat with her" Lucas replied back

"But...that means you want me to ride with her. In her car" said Keith, he began to shake his head excessively as the defiant side of him took hold. This was asking too much of him

"She's a better driver than she used to be, you'll be fine on the road this time, I'll be in front so I'll be keeping her eye on the pair of you" he said

"But what if she pulls something...you know how she is when we go to beaches, she likes to surprise me every time, one swift change of attire isn't enough, she likes to stand behind the car doors and slip it all off there too, she uses me as a lookout and then 'forgets' something, calls my name, I, like an idiot, turn around, and there she is with everything hanging out. She exists to turn me red"

Lucas got up from the table and approached Keith, he put both hands on his shoulders.

"And all through your life, it's never been out of anger" he said, "That's what you've got to show her...not something with any style, but with some real ire, show her you can't keep up these childish games anymore...unless of course you feel a certain way about her"

"Oh piss off" joked Keith. Lucas smiled and rubbed his hands through his son's hair

The doorbell rang, Keith swiftly darted back up to the stairs

"Don't be cruel to your hair now" said Lucas

"Just keep her away from any loose change on the coffee table, and don't say I'm in the bathroom, just tell her I'm in the bedroom still catching up from last night" he yelled back across to the kitchen

Lucas opened the door. There stood a beautiful dark-haired slender and lanky female carrying a pink sports bag, torn jeans, _Powerpuff Girls_ shirt, and short rimmed reading glasses fixated to her freckled features. Small bubblegum blew in and out of her mouth. She lifted her right hand and navigated it through her luscious black locks.

"I've got a choice between poker dot and emerald stripes. One makes me look like I belong in a gym" she said, "Don't worry, I'm sure Keith won't run across the lawn like my lunatic exhibitionist dad"

"Come in Caroline" Lucas said with a hefty sigh.


	3. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

"Unami Duck and scallops with sea trout. I thought you'd be excited about that" said Ace as she tucked into her dinner, whilst her ever constant companion and mentor, known to her by the pet name of Professor but widely known in his circle of acquaintances as The Doctor, was attempting to successfully unfold a deck chair indoors, all while acquiring looks from the remaining customers situated at the _Number 27_ restaurant in Portsmouth where they were dining

"I played a rather harsh trick on the last person who tried to put me on a diet" said The Doctor as he finally managed to get the chair in an upright position and settled down on it, checking a small pocket watch as he did so.

"Finish up in ten minutes. We're going to take a short trip outside Portsmouth"

"To do what Professor?" asked Ace

"It's about pleasure. A pleasure to do business"

"Trouble brewing?" asked Ace

"We're going to see a show. And you're not to like it"

"If it's clowns, I don't sweat any after the psychic circus fiasco" said Ace, beaming with confidence.

She knelt down to look at her kit bag and took out a newspaper from it, she opened up the pages while The Doctor looked at his watch intently. Ace skimmed through a few pages of the paper.

"It's like they got Frank Bough to write these articles up Professor" said Ace, "All this stuff in here about finding common approaches, it reminds me of the uneasy sight of him behind a desk on _Breakfast Time_, you know, back when they really started to slide against that other show, the one with the giant puppet rat"

"Ah yes, giant rats, the great Greel gambit...a most heinous challenge to overcome for the noblest of savages I have ever known..." said The Doctor as he indulged in the wisps of remembrance, reflecting on the era of the fourth, "There was an era Ace, filled with peril of the most macabre kind, everything seemed to conspire to take me and my company to the darkest corners, to contend with the most desperate of characters. The TARDIS in a gothic frame of mind as well as look, frankly I think she just missed me using the central console room, everything brightened up afterwards"

"There was still danger right?" asked Ace

"Always is" said The Doctor.

He looked around him, watching a child in particular play about with a happy meal toy attained in a _McDonalds._

"That's not his you know, it belongs to the mother. She likes the appeal of the meal that brings happiness. Simplest thing, nothing too big with calories, less preservatives, makes her feel very complete. The child wants what her husband is having. A bigger meal, he wants to feel important, the toy is a distraction, keeping him from making too much noise, but he's already thinking the tears have to come across his face eventually, make his demands heard, he likes the food, he wants to taste the splendour of adulthood, he's so very afraid, he thinks he'll stay that age forever, small and fragile, forever simple. Some of the others aren't so lucky, some of them liked the show, some of them pass through the ages wondering if their number will ever be called up...their age of understanding, their age of strength, their..."

"Everyone can hear you Professor" whispered Ace

"Speak up Ace, this isn't boarding school" The Doctor responded, almost taking offense to Ace's cautious words as the perplexed gazes of those inhabiting the restaurant glared down upon the two, including the family with the children.

"I'm sorry" said Ace apologetically, "Still...So much insight into what a child's thinking...next you'll be telling me you can totally interpret baby speak" remarked Ace

"I could probably hope to stand the habit nearer the end of my lives than the beginning" said The Doctor.

"Professor" Ace said, "Have you read this main headline? _'Hayling Island local Kristine Rimmer returns after several year absence. A young woman was discovered at the harbour area of Hayling Island Beach by a young man, Eliot Wright, the young woman was dazed, confused and seemed to remember a fleeting relationship with Mr. Wright and little else that has transpired in the years she was absent from home, Wright denies ever having known her. He is being held for questioning while Ms. Rimmer remains with her family"_

"Transference...he's getting closer to making the supreme mistake" whispered The Doctor

"Now who' in class?" said Ace

"If this were a maths class, I would be lecturing that person for making a supreme miscalculation" The Doctor replied

"Who Professor?"

"Who indeed" The Doctor replied, before standing up, checking his watch and urging Ace to follow him outside.

"We're taking the trip now" he said, a little more loudly this time, wanting everyone to hear him

"My apologies...I've made him go on a diet, he's a bit crabby about that" said Ace to the remaining customers.

As they exited the door, the young child put down his toy and rushed over to intercept them

"Rufus, come back here" snapped his concerned mother as Rufus walked up to The Doctor and kicked him in the leg

"I don't like you" said the child with a salty tone.

"Barely a footstep out of the sand and you've learned the lesson. Thank you" The Doctor replied, smiling, he tipped his hat to the boy, and walked out of the restaurant, with Ace hastily following

"What was that about?" said Ace

"Ace, today you're going to learn a vital lesson in what happens when you dislike something to an obsessive degree...do you like the taste of concrete?"

"I don't think anyone does Professor" said Ace

"Precisely why so few are made of such stuff...but the ones that are. They can turn the tides"

"So what are we to that?" said Ace

"We tame the tides"


	4. Chapter 4

** CHAPTER FOUR**

* * *

Keith and Caroline were going to have the talk. He was eager for it. The conditions were ideal for the opportunity, as a pile-up had unfolded on the motorway heading into Hayling, the result of a major traffic accident stemming from a police interception on a car thief. The car had crashed half-way up the busy road and the perpetrator had fled, leaving police having to cope with the clean-up as well as the continuous pursuit on-foot. Word trickled down from car to car about the incident via exchanges between drivers, who then passed the information down via text messages and phone calls.

"Before you even begin, because I know you're going to start, it's that I feel comfortable around you whenever I slip you a peek" said Caroline, throwing Keith off-base, "I don't do it with Lars, I don't do it with Mercer, I haven't even seen Archer in about five months and last time I checked I asked him out and he friend zoned me, so it's not a romantic thing with you either, it's simply a combination of years worth of knowing you, having no female friends, and because I know you don't have any of that sort besides me either"

"Caroline, I'm...look, I really appreciate you value my opinion on your stylistic choices, it's just, my dad and I had a conversation about it and..."

"And you're going to parrot exactly what your dad said rather than make your own mind up" said Caroline, reaching for the radio and turning the volume up slightly so as to make Keith's attempts at standing his ground and stating his case harder.

Keith accepted the challenge, taking a small packet of mint gum from his pocket, he chewed down on a piece to relieve the tension and swiftly began raising his voice

"We're getting up there now. In age I mean. This isn't like you can just play in the mud and then take all your clothes off and have a bath like we did when we were younger. Our bodies have changed, our attitudes towards bodies change, by law of nature, not just sex education they dictate we're supposed to start thinking about things differently, our physical hormones kick in"

"Only if you love the person" said Caroline

"Oh don't start with that bollocks" Keith said, his ire becoming increasingly tempered, "It's all chemicals, nothing soul-yearning. Guys are always going to get aroused by mature and beautiful looking women and will continuously be under a certain impression whenever they start flaunting their private areas around them for attention"

"...I wanted information. Not your attention" assured Caroline.

"Then take photos of yourself or something wearing your outfit, show me the photos and I can assess you, I can't move past the point where you're on the floor of my bedroom slipping into your birthday suit rather than a bathing one"

"Why does nature always frighten you? You don't even trust yourself with your real hairstyle" she said, reaching out and stroking her hands through Keith's freshly dyed white hair.

"What are you? A snowman or something?" she said.

Keith grabbed her hand and gently waved it aside, he stared out at the window to see a bunch of children inhabiting a tangy blue vehicle opposite Caroline's car sticking their tongues out cheekily at him

"Look" Caroline said, "I just perceive the world a little bit differently from you do, and it's not just the aspergers talking, I just foresee, and you'll dismiss this as a bit of a hipster thing, but given my dad's experiences, the rise in providence of unisex changing facilities and the like, the friends with benefits system among freshmen, it just stands to reason friends of an opposite gender should feel more comfortable in and around each other's skins. It leads to stronger bonds...and I'd hate to lose that with you after so long"

Keith turned around and faintly smiled, "You're not going to lose me. Ever. If I were intimidated by your exposure I'd have shut you out right there and then...just, rein yourself in a bit. You're right. It is love I feel, but love like a sister, love on a platonic level, and I don't want it tainted by a temptation to raise it above a certain step. Mistakes at my age, at yours, can be made. I hope you understand"

"I can't say I do. I think the majority of the world could stand to see a lot more skin" she said, "But I respect your stance"

"Good. Now no surprises when we get there. Change in the car and lock the door. I'll wait outside"

"And how are you going to change?" Caroline replied

"We'll take turns. Just keep your back turned while I'm in the car changing. Seeing people stare back at me in that situation tends to unnerve me the rest of the day. Can't get much of anything done"

Caroline nodded, knowing in the back of her head she had just thought of a note-perfect and ever defiant surprise lined up in store for him.

"Blasted traffic" she said, as the pile-up continued to try her patience. The longer the delay, the greater the anticipation in pulling the surprise off. She often hated anticipating things.

She was always one for immediate result.


	5. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

* * *

At the center of the packed beach, the show was to again commence. The Showman was on in less than an hour. Nestled behind the box from which the show sprang from, The Showman was testing the willpower of his obese associate

"Tell me what you're thinking of Ottoman" he said, a tad excited.

"A light house" he replied

"A lighthouse. Do you live near one? Do you like to see the ships?" The Showman replied.

"I don't like ships" said Ottoman

"Kristine didn't like ships. There's too much coincidence going on here" The Showman said, placing a hand firmly under his chin and lightly tapping it.

"It's not a karma thing is it? I do so hate those" Ottoman said, "You find it in all the newspapers and TV magazines"

"Karma is just time's way of asserting certain concrete footholds, I wouldn't worry" The Showman replied

"What about the girl? The thirteen year old girl? The age of commencement? The one who didn't like the show?" said Ottoman, "You didn't just let her go after building her up so much in your head..."

"Her parents were only a few meters away. Fortune did not favor me this day" The Showman continued, placing the Punch and Judy puppets on his hands. "Now, which one should ask the question this time? What question should it be? Perhaps about ships? Maybe I'll get lucky. Orphan's lot. That was my _latest_ miscalculation you know...I've realized it now"

"You think you'll find someone with no-one. In _that _crowd?" said Ottoman.

"Fish and Ships" The Showman replied

"...Ships again sir?" said Ottoman

"Yes. Get me some. I'm hungry. Just nip into the chippie and buy some. It's ok, they will know what you mean when you order it. They know my moods in there."

"So you've been here before then?"

"Seventh door" said The Showman

"Are you...are you sharing classified information with me?" said Ottoman, "I feel very privileged sir"

"Seventh door...on your right" said The Showman. "I'm giving you directions to the chippie. Be attentive"

"I never paid attention. Especially in class" admitted Ottoman

"Education, the pull of school, that cost me a Snowman, I don't want it to extinguish a fire" The Showman continued.

"You consider me a flame. I'm touched"

"You're not the fire, you're the fuel. You're going to ignite something. Just order my food and come back. And please don't get overexcited when you see who you see" said The Showman.

And so Ottoman, lummox that he was, embarked on a rare moment of impromptu exercise as he walked over to the chip shop, a dusty and tattered wallet in his hand containing some wet and soggy ten pound notes. The whiff of vinegar overwhelmed his sensitive nostrils as he entered and stood behind two people who were making inquiries to the proprietors about the disappearance of Kristine Rimmer and her recent discovery. They were asking where the local police station was where she was being kept over for questioning and to see if her immediate family could be contacted.

Ottoman should have paid attention to the specifics of this matter, to alert his friend, to let him know their operation was in jeopardy. Someone was snooping

But all he could focus on was the man with the distinguishably odd umbrella in the shape of a question mark.

"It's you" he whispered

As the man and his associate, a girl with a black t-shirt and a long ponytail charged out of the chippie, having attained the right amount of information, Ottoman followed them out, all without ordering 'fish and ships', a sense of great anxiety overtaking him and locking him in position on the curb.

"I say, I say, you there" he said, waving, but the strange little man and the girl did not notice. Or maybe they did...or rather, maybe the little man did, and for the sake of history, had to soldier on.

Ottoman remembered The Showman's words. Let's not get too over excited.

But he couldn't help himself

Seventh Door.

It wasn't a revelation.

It was an instruction.

And he carried it out supremely.

What a good and clever boy he was.


	6. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

* * *

Eliot Wright had never been in trouble before. And his present situation frightened him.

His father always told him to be spirited, be respectful to others, to never show signs of temptation when confronted with something exciting, yet either illegal or dangerous. No drug pushing, no over-excessive alchahol intake. And recently no internet downloading.

So many things to remember.

Like so many other sons as they teeth through their teen years on the short stretch to adulthood, he always found a way to take all of that good advice for granted before becoming mature enough to take it to heart.

Oh there would be so many stand-up arguments, so many times Eliot would want to do something and be forbidden. So many times he thought of taking a back hand to his dad, proclaiming that on any given day would be their "final conflict". He always had a flare for the dramatic.

Now he was being held up in the police station, having endured a grilling three hour session of questioning, and he was afraid all of that he had just shared with them privately would emerge publicly on some kind of permanent record.

And his father would be embarrassed. And fights would be picked again. At an age where he could not emotionally or physically deal with it.

The notion frightened Elliot to the bone.

As he sat in the interrogation room, the door opened and a short man stepped through brandishing an umbrella. He took his odd looking cream hat off his head and sat down beside him

"You playing Nice Cop?" asked Elliot.

The man placed both hands together in a triangular shape and stared intently at Elliot

"Look, I think I deserve a phone call" said Elliot

The man continued to stare at him, not averting his gaze for seconds. He didn't even blink.

He had experience with that.

"My parents, they'll be worried...they'll...you know what? You probably know all about that...you lot already got me bringing up all that baggage just to try and build some case against me, all I did was help a girl out and she lied and latched onto me and painted me a victim. I've never met her before"

"You can be there for her now" the man suddenly and swiftly uttered

"Excuse me?" said Elliot, confused

"It makes sense don't you think? It's of the most textbook of design. Stockholm's, where victims fall in love with their captors"

"I never held her prisoner, this is crazy" said Elliot, awash with anguish as he began to cave in to the maddening pressure of the situation, what his parents would think, what the police were prepared to believe. Tears flowed down his face. He stood out of the chair and paced up and down, covering his hands with his head.

"Phone call...just something, I want to hear a reassuring voice"

"You can only assure yourself at this stage. Assure a healthy future for yourself and the young lady"

"Why?" asked Elliot, "She's put me through hell. I don't trust her. I don't like her" protested Elliot.

"Everyone says that in defiance when faced with the shock of the new. The temptation of new sights, new sensations, some run away, some go mad, and some never seem to stop saying this dislike something but refuse to turn away from it, like they have an obligation to uncover the inner workings of an interesting failure. It takes a weaker man, an altered man, to latch on to people who are interested in the uninteresting, who obsess over what goes wrong in their minds...those weaker men wish to put them to work"

"Are you a good cop or a really bad psychiatrist?" asked Elliot, his frustrations building

The man got up and gently placed his hat back on his head, he checked his watch

"I'd best be heading off"

"Where? After dumping all of this on me, where are you going? Just like that? Leaving me with riddles?" Eliot said

"They're not riddles, they're lessons. They're also choices"

"You're tempting me. And my dad...my dad always told me to resist temptations. I won't affect that person's life in any way that damages her further. If I love someone, it'll be someone who loves me for who I am, the proper textbook version of me, the proper story, good and clean and proper"

"Desirable...or damaged. With one phone call to your parents, it could be one of two things, you will not falter from your choice if you make the call" the man said

"Was that a question?" asked Elliot, "Or an instruction?"

"It's an order from an authority that exists to be questioned"

"So I'm to make up my own mind? What kind of person do you think I am? Get out, I don't think you're police at all, I want the bad cop back in, not some loopy pseudo-shrink"

"Ah, remain damaged it is then...have fun sharing your biography further, or prove me wrong. Naive or Noble. My instruction. Your choice" the man said, and walked through the doors of the interrogation room and back into the main lobby, where almost everyone was frozen solid bar one other person, a girl

"I heard every word exchanged in there" said Ace , "What went on? I thought you were going to ask him about how he met Kristine Rimmer"

"Controlling one tide at a time" said The Doctor, "There was nothing new he could have shared with us. Rimmer is the end of a chapter, we need to skip ahead to the next plot development"

"So you concentrated on penning the next chapter of that guy's story"

"He'll find his own adventure" The Doctor replied

"Like the books? Ace play Professor" said Ace

"Come along Ace, time you enjoyed a show at the beach" The Doctor said, and arm in arm, the pair walked out of the police station, The Doctor yelling "snap happy", which caused the whole station to come to life and alert with activity once again.


	7. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

* * *

As Keith got out of the car as it parked in close proximity to the beach, he could see a show on display. Tiny pockets of ship-shaped potato pieces could be found lying on the grass. He picked one up and inhaled a whiff of fresh vinegar, before discarding it. There was once a time when he was younger where he would pick things up and eat them like some scavenger vulture, there were no boundaries when you were three and a victim of habit.

"What inspired you to have that hairstyle?" asked Caroline, observing Keith's snow white hair, opting to change into her bathing suit within the car, she began tossing out her clothes

"My dad" Keith said, "He had this young friend he worked with in social services...poor kid only ever really had one friend, a girl who went missing around the same period he started sporting this kind of hairstyle, he kept it around as a memento, Dad thought he stood out like a sore thumb whenever they were out in public so he took to sporting it, he was trying to make the kid feel a little more comfortable in his own skin"

"Noble intentions" said Caroline

Keith partially turned around to face her, then averted his gaze

"What?" she said, "Turn around properly"

"I don't trust you" said Keith, expecting a flash of flesh for his trouble.

Caroline got out of the car, her trousers half-off, her bikini straps above still loose, she held the top firmly against her chest

"Shoulders. That's all you're getting this time. Happy?" she said

"Really? This is your way of making up for your years worth of springing your birthday suit on me? Lean shoulders?"

"It's hard for me to break the habits as hard as you tend to get because of them" replied Caroline, her tone becoming slightly sassier

Lucas stormed out of his own car, a map still firmly clenched in his grip, the two of Keith's younger siblings racing towards the beach as they caught sight of a box perched in the midst of the crowded commotion going on at the rim of the sea.

"Where are you two going?" said Lucas

"We want to see the puppets" said one of the younger children, holding up a pamphlet she had found discarded on the green. Lucas swiftly read it out aloud

" _The Punch to Judy Productions Proudly Presents A Show Like No Other...runs twice daily late mornings and mid afternoons_. _Will you like it? Please say so_..._or say no_"

Lucas frowned at this, something felt all too familiar about this. He struggled to remember why. an immediate notion born of concern came to him as a result of this confusion.

" Keith, you wouldn't mind minding the kids while they watch this play will you?"

"Don't see why not, I'm not one for hours worth of prattling on about myself while deciding how many layers of suntan lotion to apply to the skin" said Keith, looking on at Caroline, who turned her nose at him and dove back into the car to properly affix her bikini top to her chest.


	8. Chapter 8

**CHAPTER EIGHT**

* * *

The Doctor was beside himself with frustration. In his hurry to tame the tides, he had forgotten a vital component of his recreational activities. As Ace emerged from the changing booth at the far right of the beach sporting a black bikini top with torn jean shorts and carrying a beach ball, her hair no longer tied back, loose, long, flowing across her features, she noticed The Doctor's concerns.

"Anything the matter Professor?"

"I left my deck chair in the restaurant"

"So just get another one. Plenty around here"

"I have errands to run, and it won't be long before things start happening and I have to be off"

"Errands? Oh no Professor, you're not going to leave me waiting like you did at that bus station are you?" Ace asked

The Doctor patted her beach ball, "You have a toy this time"

"I missed three trips to Glasgow all because you wanted to give some ungrateful boy back in the past a lecture about the meaning of education"

"He didn't like it. That just made me more persistent" The Doctor replied.

"What is it about people disliking something, then enjoying it anyway?" Ace asked, curious as the pair made their way onto the sands, Ace kicking off her shoes and dipping her toes into the course and toasty grains beneath her feet.

"It's a test of their endurance" said The Doctor, "For either charity or for fun, people will do everything they're afraid of, particularly young people, if you can get them young, if they can latch onto something they hate intensely, they can obsess over it time and again, and that obsession drives them to make creative decisions about where their life is heading"

"Sounds like an awful way to live...obsessing over the negatives" Ace replied, "Being a...oh what's the word I picked up in School? My mate Charlotte constantly used it to sound clever...pessimistic, that's the one. Why be so pessimistic?"

"Because the cruelties of the world, the cruelties of life, the normal type anyway, creep up even on the content, see for them, as wholesome and as regular as their particular lives are, they consume so much of what the media tells them, so many hours spent on their computers watching downloads of the latest 'truther' findings, their paranoia sneaks in, they think they can change the world and inform their loved ones, tell them to bolt down the doors because great terrors are coming...and they'd be right, if they looked in the right places, but no, these are regular innocents buying into the exaggeration, disliking something strongly, they sense something is wrong with the world, they want to fight to protect it, they hate what is driving them to do it but they are under an obligation, a condition, to do whatever they can to use it in a fight. A war they've been enlisted to fight in. Some forces out there in the universe have latched onto this fact, latched on to this youth-oriented demographic, and are luring them in, they latch onto those who intently dislike and sense the wrongness in things and use that to shape them into soldiers"

"So that's why we're here" realized Ace, "Someone's here at this beach. At this moment in time...and is recruiting"

"Enjoy the show. It's very nearly started" The Doctor said, grabbing Ace's beach ball and tossing it to the far left. Ace dashed over and intercepted it before it could land

"Let's play ball" said Ace.


	9. Chapter 9

**CHAPTER NINE**

* * *

As the show commenced, all the parties took their positions, each here for distinctly different reasons. A peculiar man and his faithful companion engaged in a game of beach ball just to the far right, Keith and Caroline settled down in the center of the beach, Keith's siblings encircling the pair. They put their hands together as the puppet show came together

"I feel ridiculous" muttered Keith under his breath

"You're hanging in there. Don't worry, if it's all the same puppets creep me out too...there's something so insincere about them, they're not at all welcoming" replied Caroline

Keith noticed a ship-shaped potato chip near the box from where the show was to commence. He picked up the chip and put it in his mouth, Caroline noticed and was instantly repulsed.

"You don't know where that's been"

"Sure. I do. Dipped in vinegar. What's the harm in leftovers?" said Keith

"Hello kiddies" said the two puppets representing Punch and Judy in joint unison. The assembled children clapped and cheered and replied with a hearty response of "Hello". Even Caroline joined in.

"Did their eyes just glow?" said Keith, noticing a red flicker in the puppet's beady little eye stalks

Unbeknownst to him ,beneath the eyes of the puppets lay a deeper ulterior set of features, a string of binary numbers and infra-red heat scans of the assembly were being read out, the information coursing through the puppets, through the arms of the operator, and downloading the data into the cerebellum of the Showman at the helm.

"Tell me Judy, what did you learn today?"

"I learned how to open something" replied Judy.

Punch turned to the audience, "Well kids, what have you opened lately?"

He eyed up Keith's youngest sister, she remained not flinching in the slightest.

"I don't like this Keith" said Caroline, clutching Keith's hand, the puppets were not putting her at any ease.

"We'll be fine so long as I'm not dragged into this" said Keith.

"What on earth would they want with someone over the target audience range?" whispered Caroline

"Let's just say I've been bragging to the impressionable mind" said Keith

Caroline was confused

"Won't ask again, or maybe I will, not like this, but like this" Punch said, his voice changing to something a bit more boundless and sugary. "What have you opened lately lass?"

"A wound" she replied.

The crowd looked on, shocked. Caroline gasped. Keith whistled aloud and began looking in a lot of directions, anything to avoid eye contact with his sister as she turned around and stared lovingly at him

"it's what you taught me remember?" she said

"_Really _now?" said Caroline, a curious eyebrow raised

Keith's face turned bright red, he placed both hands to his face and breathed into them with anxious anxiety.

Through the gaze of the puppets, wirelessly connected to his mind, the Showman made note of the style of Keith's hair.

White as snow.

The Showman turned to his right and looked Ottoman in the eye...and in the mind.

"The seventh door. It's open?" he said

"It's out in the air" said Ottoman, "Should I fetch him for you?"

"No...no, I'm...torn" The Showman admitted, "I need to make a choice on who to take...commence with the age of commencement, or try a second chance at where we slipped up with young Kristine"

"Come on big brother, tell him about the day you played nurses with me...and my dolls" said Keith's sister, causing his younger brother to laugh and Caroline to grimace.

Keith wanted to be anywhere but amongst this most captive and attentive of audiences.

He looked at the odd pair playing beach ball just a few meters away and envied them greatly.

"Tell them what you taught me" his sister continued

Keith nodded.


	10. Chapter 10

**CHAPTER TEN**

* * *

"Tell me about them then" said Ace, beginning to get bored of the routine game she and The Doctor were playing with the beach ball, "The whole recruitment process, this 'showman', what's his game plan?"

"War"

"Planning to start one?" Ace asked

"No, war is already in place. He is to keep adding to it. He belongs to a race that is intent on recruiting people with character, people who will say 'no', who feel slightly pessimistic about things, they want that little bit of rebellion, once they settle on the appropriate age, captivate them with promises of a grander show, a better way of living, and if they take the bait, they live out years of their lives being groomed to serve in the war off-shore, off-world, somewhere out there in the stars. I'd go right to the heart of the matter but the planet is sealed away, no one bar the planet's privileged can access it, it's even time-locked by my people, a rare practise for them, I'd hate to see them resort to that, especially for a war, they might fall into a habit with that"

"See, why didn't you simplify all of that in the first place?" asked Ace

"Educational purposes Ace" replied The Doctor

"Creepy" said Ace, "So what are we doing playing about? Why don't we muck in, watch the show, stand up for everyone, put on a show of our own? A show of force, that'll bring the curtain down"

"Somebody is already doing that. A footprint made of concrete"

"What? Who?"

The Doctor glanced to the far right, Ace focused on who he was giving the eye to, she noticed Keith

"Him?" said Ace, curious.

"An off-shoot of a successful altercation I had with someone several decades ago. It feels fitting that the first door opened should be closed by the seventh exit"

"You're not simplifying anything again Professor" moaned Ace, "Care to let me in on what you mean?"

"Not everything can be explained as simple as that Ace. Some things you're best keeping to herself" The Doctor said

"Ex-excuse me?" a plump man said, nervously, as he approached the pair "I didn't get a chance to speak to you earlier. I called you out. You didn't hear me"

"Yes. I didn't hear you" The Doctor said, not looking him in the eye

"Why not?"

"Because I'm not meant to yet" The Doctor replied

"Who's this joker Professor?" asked Ace

"Someone who's trying to make me very early for a late appointment" The Doctor replied

"Please...just hear me out..." said Ottoman, "It's important you remember...sometime when it's all in-synch...sometime when it comes to you, in a dream perhaps...yes, perhaps..."

Ace tossed the beach ball at his head, Ottoman took two steps back

"Clear off" said Ace

"Speak your mind and return to your show...not that it stands much more of a chance" The Doctor replied

"Oh The Showman knows that. He knows that...you've done well Time Lord" said Ottoman, "He's guessed your hand in this...too much coincidence for there to be two snowmen in his lifetime...but it will only delay, not defeat us"

"This is your parting gift is it? To ensure I forget the day? Forget what I came here for?" The Doctor responded.

"Never forget...and never regret, find a way to save them. Save them all. When you stepped through the seventh door, on that world you call home, all those years ago, or all those years to come depending on far flung it is... did you ever once consider who _designed_ it?" said a more cryptic Ottoman as he walked away, leaving even The Doctor lost for words for once

"Consider, and remember, create a concrete footprint in your own mind rather than insist they be moulded from other people" said Ottoman as he returned to the pantomime box from where The Showman was conducting his afternoon entertainment.

"Gordon Benet, that was weird" said Ace.

The Doctor tapped his lips with the tip of his finger, then shook his head

"Back to the ball Ace" he said

"Just like that?" said Ace

"No regrets" said The Doctor, "Let the snow gently fall where it must"


	11. Chapter 11

**CHAPTER ELEVEN**

* * *

"You disobeyed me" said The Showman as Ottoman crept back into the tent, "I told you I was torn"

"I had to put something out there...otherwise we may never have met" said Ottoman, peering over the top of the box and gazing out at the crowd as they took in Keith's story.

"How is he doing?" he said

"Putting on a show" The Showman replied

"It was a dry day, I remember that much" said Keith as his impressionable sister and brother clung to him like followers of a cult leader, "I...was sorting out the usual sort of things one finds in the minds of a wayward teenager...who to date, what to take, what you can afford, what you can't be late for, what you ought to make an early appointment of...the last one came to me most urgently. I had been late in the most fashionable sense for a considerable while, a class on higher English skills, I was obsessed with collecting toys at this stage in my life, I'd never had many when I was young and was trying to catch up, so I would go into the toy stores and I'd pick up a Transformer or a G.I Joe, and spend so much time deciding between them that I would come into class sometimes with only half an hour to spare before the period of education ended.

I was determined to get there in a hurry this time, so I wandered through the back lots of the city, where the cars would pour out of hidden corners in the street, no traffic lights or anything to dictate to the public when to stop when they emerged. One wrong glance and I'd have been run clean over. I had to be quite careful, I know I'm making this sound exotic, do forgive me, but it all had to be done for the sake of education...a friend of my dad had always told me that education was the highest priority, that it would elevate us above the need for war, to embrace new ideas, not reject them because of our initial fears and concerns, revel in the enjoyment of things, not to repel it"

"What was your friend's name?" asked Punch, the children picked up on the change in voice on the puppet.

Behind the box, the Showman hastily told Ottoman to be quiet, fearing he may spoil everything.

"My dad's friend? Billy. Billy Kettleworth" said Keith, "It's funny , he took that advice from an elderly man at the beach who was lecturing a young woman he was with about the importance of education at home, he didn't want her enrolling into a public school, but she was insistent, saying it'd be good to absorb the "planetary culture" and put a positive spin on their 'release from the confines of war', Billy always said he found the girl a bit of a cukoolander. She had a name...Foreman I think it was...anyway, I'm back-tracking here, wasting my time, back to my story..."

"Right, show's over" said The Showman as he hastily stepped from out of the box brandishing his cane and wearily tapping it on the dunes of the beach in rabid frustration, he bent his body to the left and leaned on the imbedded cane, tilting his head up to stare at the sky, the bright burning summer sky, he glanced over at the two playing beach ball innocently, the girl wanted to look at him but was cautioned not to by her playful and prioritised friend.

Ottoman stepped out of the box holding the two puppets

"Are we to analyze the information?" he said, "Seeing as it's over?"

The Showman looked at the puppets, stared back at the confused crowd, looked back at Ottoman with a clear conscience and a crooked smile. He took the two puppets, raised them high into the air, and let them fall to the ground rather gently.

"The Recruitment procedures are over. At least on this planet" The Showman uttered, and looked out at The Doctor and Ace

"Happy now?" The Showman asked, before turning away and striding away in the opposite direction

"Remember...and don't regret, like they all did" Ottoman replied, and followed after his master as they headed up towards the hills.

"Great game sir, well played" said a beaming Ottoman, "You pointed me to the Seventh Door and I carried out my instructions to the letter"

"Seventh Door, on your left" said The Showman, "There wasn't anything meta about my instructions, no hidden meanings, I didn't want you to tell him anything, I didn't want you to get involved. I just wanted something from the chip shop"

"I've done something right haven't I? I mean, surely everything we remember, everything that set us off on this mission...it'll come to pass now right?"

"You drafted him, don't you see? He'll be curious now...about the war, he'll peer into his own future, the supreme chess player, shown exactly how well the strategies pay off, you have made him more dangerous, and it will creep into his psyche, and he won't let go of it, oh no, it'll come to him one day, in a sense of desperation, long after he's finished revisiting old faces, he'll move past that phase of nostalgia and seek to find minds and memories that retaliate against the conventional clichés of life...he'll want to put on a show, and he'll want to seek out the age of commencement, and he'll want to send a message to himself to put that to bed before he does something that will expose his soul to the whole of the wretched universe. He'll want to send himself a message, but he knows he'd regret, and later forget, so he'll give a loved one the message instead, tell her to come here, to absorb the culture...to absorb education, put it above war, a license to learn, never to kill, recruit to reveal layers of the mind, never to lay waste to them"

"So when do we expect this? Are we to stop it?" said Ottoman

"No, it's our job to ensure it happens. Message understood. Never forget...never regret" The Showman said, putting his hand around Ottoman's shoulder.

Keith, Caroline, Keith's siblings and the remaining children all stood fixed to their spot, uncertain of what to do next

"Did I say something wrong?" said Keith

"Keep saying stuff, that was way more interesting than that lame puppet show" asked one of the kids

"Yeah, tell us about the open wound" said another

Keith obliged and continued to share the story.


	12. Chapter 12

**CHAPTER TWELVE**

* * *

Some hours later, Keith, his siblings and Caroline were ready to disembark from their long day, Keith was spent, he perched himself into the front of Caroline's car as his brother and sister clambered into his father Lucas's vehicle.

Lucas stared at Keith and commented on his son's fatigue

"You looked like you just talked for England...I was speaking to some of the parents of the other children, they said they were fascinated by what you were telling them, stayed fixed to the spot for a good few hours, what were you telling them?"

"Look, it's really nothing complex" Keith said

"Nothing complex?" remarked Caroline, "He spent what for a kid is an afternoon's worth yapping away about how he found a man with a gaping bullet wound in his chest lying flat on the ground on the outskirts of his college, he helped take the bullet out using what he learned in the med unit classes, he wanted to phone the ambulance but the guy brushed him off and went waltzing down the street still bleeding out slightly, so Keith took his scarf off and tightly bound it to the open wound, he insisted the guy go to the hospital, after a bit, the guy finally listened, gave him a contact number to let him know if he made it, and that was it"

"I got the call from him a day or so late, that time I told you I was yapping away to one of my girl mates" replied Keith

"You never told me any of this, weren't other people around?" asked Lucas.

"Traffic accident over the other side, nobody could get through, so no witnesses...I don't know...I felt _compelled_...to tell someone about this, so I...told the young ones...I kept the bullet, even showed little Massey the procedure with her Barbie dolls, and how to dress the wound..."

"How enlightening. Don't think I'd cut Massey out as a Doctor"

"Well I did pick it up from your mate Billy, and he got that from a grumpy old Doctor he met on the day that Kristine woman went missing"

"Yeah, she showed up again lately, eighteen years old, suffering from Stockholm's syndrome, I don't like the sound of this...too much coincidence going on"

"You believe in that?" asked Caroline

"A little...some call it shamanic, others call it magic, I just call it rotten timing" confessed Lucas, "Right, well we'd better be off"

As he and the kids clambered into the car, Keith and Caroline retreated to their own transport. They perched themselves onto the front seats and both breathed a sigh of relief as the taxing events of the day washed over them

"Do you think they liked the show?" asked Caroline

"I don't like to brag...but...they totally did didn't they?" said Keith, a wry and self-satisfied smile stretching over his features.

Caroline looked to the back of the car to find her clothes scattered across the seat

"I need to change" she said

Keith couldn't be bothered moving. And she knew that.

"Oh get 'em out and just get on with it" Keith said, closing his eyes, which left him wide open to a sneak attack as a bikini top flew across his face.

Elsewhere, in the safety and security of the TARDIS, Ace was analyzing the puppets left behind by The Showman, while The Doctor was taking out a pen and paper.

"These weird gadgets in the felt, what are they? Seems to be full of numbers counting down to something" asked a curious Ace

"They gather data, almost like bees gather nectar, and report their findings back to a hive mind on a planet torn apart by war, the ones with the most resistance to different forms of entertainment or endearment the hive mind focuses on and deems fit to recruit. The Showmen are there to hold their hands, to influence them, in time, over the years, letting their memories slip away, until all they could think about was the reward, a chance to fight in the war, which was decided upon after someone younger than Ms. Rimmer, another who attended the show, claimed he would rather fight a glorious battle than preside over a regular old punch-and-Judy routine"

"I don't like the sound of that Professor"

"Precisely why I kept you away at a distance from that show, you were prime stock for the hive mind, your pride would have gotten in the way"

"Glad you didn't say my temper" joked Ace.

"You would put all the children there to shame with a time-honoured tantrum as is your tradition" said The Doctor

"Oi, I'm not that much of a sulk...more of a Hulk" said Ace.

The Doctor began scribbling down words on the paper

"What are you doing now?" asked Ace

"Errands to run" The Doctor replied, "You should get some rest while I pop back and forth home"

"Home? The Time Lords? Gallifrey? We're heading there? I'm not missing that"

"Afraid you'll have to. I'm going back along our time stream...awfully tricky business, probably will have the C.I.A developing very immediate baldness with how many hairs they'll be pulling out trying to reconcile these things, I'll have to write them a very earnest apology...once I find the time, and the motivation. This is going to be a time where outsiders weren't welcome on the world, so you'll have to stay in the ship"

"Fine" sulked Ace, "But no rest for the wicked"

"You win" joked The Doctor.

"...Professor? Does this have anything to do with what that weird fat lad said to you on the beach? What does it all mean? Will I ever know...maybe I should speak for anyone who joins us or you later long after I'm gone...I'm not a fool, I can see when the patterns are too big, too complex, to properly digest in one lifetime. This is one of them isn't it Professor? I ask you...will it ever be explained? Do the questions ever really end?"

The Doctor gave her a telling glance. Ace didn't' require a response to understand it.

So little in life goes unexplained.

The same applies to the inexplicable lives led by Time Lords.

He finished writing the letter, a small one, with a simple request directed at a very unique person.

To walk along the beaches, taming the tides as they crash and course through the sands of time, a footprint must be imprinted in concrete

"_My dearest Susan..." _opened the letter.


End file.
